The Christmas Note

not different by many Christmas films. same generous spirit. same troubles with happy end. same expecting solution. same warm flavor of holyday covering fight, expectations, dreams and giving the right answer to complicated problems. this is motif for who the movies of Christmas, the films from Hallmark frame, are...special. for the small nuances. for the performances who are like hot chocolate or apple pie, not convincing, far to be remarkable, but nice. preserving the spirit of a holiday so less religious but good for remind fundamental values and the importance of family. so, must see "The Christmas Note" !

A really wonderful feel good film that is not a romance but instead about relationship. I thought it was predictable (just like the Christmas Secret was) but still I highly recommend it. The acting of everyone was fantastic. The development of the relationship between the two leads (Gretchen and Melissa) was heartwarming and a joy to watch develop. They had a real chemistry. Gretchen's son was truly adorable. Don't listen to negative reviews if you are looking for a film that will make your heart feel all warm and gooey inside.

This one was better than I was expecting, and even a bit of mystery! It's a perfect heartwarming movie for Christmas in July! It's a little hard to believe, but what Hallmark Christmas movie isn't a little unrealistic?

The movie is based on the book written by Donna VanLiere. She was the lady that wrote "The Christmas Shoes" (2003). No wonder why the movie was a good one.

This is not the typical guy meets girl romance which was nice. We have some mystery and a bit of a surprise ending that I originally thought might occur, but then dismissed it. So I was surprised. The two female leads were very good and there really wasn't any dull spots in the movie. The boy was great.

Some of the reviews say the film takes place in Wilsonville, Vermont when there is no such town. There is a Wilsonville, Oregon with a population of the same as shown in the sign shown in the movie (which probably isn't an actual sign). The mom is played by the same actress who played the mother Mrs Thatcher on "When calls the Heart".

Melissa says "You can cry in front of me." And sometimes that's the only thing you need to hear from your friend while she just let's you cry.

I loved the movie because it was about true friends and good family. For me this was a real tear-jerker because these are things that I really value. First we see Gretchen and then Melissa are going through things that you just shouldn't go through alone. Some people would not have the heart to help someone she doesn't even know when they have problems like this of their own, but Gretchen reaches out to support her brand new neighbor and becomes that kind of friend. Her son is remarkable also because he was the one that broke the ice.

This movie has a mystery and the new friends become detectives to seek out the identity of Melissa's sibling. There were good clues and false clues. If you guessed the identity, it wasn't from any clues the characters had because there was no way they could have known until the end. And the movie didn't even reveal all they knew until after the final truth was known.

But in general terms you usually know what you will get in a Hallmark movie and this one was no different.

The acting was good. We often talk about chemistry in the romance movies. Well this wasn't really a romance, but it was the two women, Leah Gibson and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who had chemistry, extraordinary chemistry. Dylan Kingwell, as Ethan, was also prominent.

P.S. after the third time I've watched this. That's a good measure of how much you like a movie. And more than that. It was the Hallmark special July showing of Christmas movies, but this year I really wasn't into them. There were just a small few movies I noticed that I really did want to see again, and this was the one I looked forward to the most. And I had tears stinging my eyes almost all the way through it. It is even more poignant when you know what is going to happen.